Three mistakes made at River

In this article, we’ll explore these three mistakes and explain why they’re so costly. Leaving aside the fact that the river is usually the easiest street to play, there are a few key mistakes that intermediate and beginner players make all too often at this stage of the game.

The content of this article is mixed and has concepts aimed at both Limit Hold'em and No-Limit Hold'em.

Mistake #1: The meaningless bet

A “nonsense bet” is a term we’ll use to refer to a bet that seems to come out of the ether, is completely unexpected to your opponent, and appears to have no legitimate attitude behind it.
Understand that in most limit hold'em games or low limit games in particular your opponents will be willing to call you on the river even when they don't have a great hand.
It's a bit difficult to explain this phenomenon, but we can use as an example a player who ends up calling a bet on the river holding a pair of threes on a board :Ks :Qh :9s :7s :5c. They do this because they remember that time six months ago when they folded a similar hand and their opponent showed a bluff. What they forget is the countless times in the same situation where their opponent showed two pair or better and they ended up losing the hand.

So, we can assume that your opponents will first try to find a special reason to call you, especially on the river. This means that you should be very cautious when deciding to set up a bluff at this point. As a rule, we will only bluff the river when we have told a compelling story during the hand, making the bluff more plausible. It could have been a bet on the flop, a check-raise as a semi-bluff on the flop, anything like that would help the bluff make more sense.

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Example of a meaningless bet:

You have :5c :6c and are the small blind. The player in MP calls, two players in the middle call and the button calls. You call and the BB checks. The flop comes :Ac :9s :3c. You check, EP bets, a player calls and you call. The turn comes :Jh. You check again, the player in EP bets, a player folds and you call. The river is :2s.

A bluff bet here would fall squarely under the term “nonsensical bet.” At no point during the hand did you show any strength, and it’s unlikely that the player will think that this :2s helped you. Although the pot is large enough to make a bluff seem profitable, notice how extremely suspicious your bet is. In fact, it looks exactly like what it is: a bluff on a busted draw. Okay, your opponent could also be on a draw and fold his hand (but we have to remember that he bet on an A-high board with 5 players in the pot, which indicates strength and he should have at least the ace). Making a bluff in this case can lead to your opponent calling with incredible hands, starting with a pair of fives all the way up to a Q-high. When you bluff on the river, do it in a spot where your opponent is already expecting your bet, or at least won’t be shocked by it. When you start throwing chips after a blank card appears on the board, your opponent is sure to be confused. Confused players will end up calling with a wide variety of hands, especially if you are playing limit hold'em. So when you make a bet, think about whether your actions before the river have told some sort of story that will make your opponent fold – at least part of – his range of hands.

Mistake #2: Raising a good (but not great) hand in a multiway pot

Another big mistake. What we're talking about here is raising a player you think might be winning, but with a hand that has a fair chance of being beaten by another player yet to speak.

An example:

You have :Qd :Jd in MP. A player in front of you calls, you call, and two players in MP/LP call. The Button and the blinds call. The flop is :Ks :Th :7s. The SB bets, and four players fold. You call, and both players in MP/LP call. The Button raises, and everyone calls again. The turn is a :4c. The SB bets again, you call, and now all three players behind you call. The river is a :9s. The SB leads out.

You should just make a call here, the reasons are as follows:
a) There is a possibility that someone has the flush.
b) Only by calling can you persuade someone with a lower hand than you to call. By raising you would scare this player away.
c) By raising you have put yourself in a very bad situation if someone re-raises you. You may end up having to fold a large pot, or calling with a hand that is likely to lose.

When you just call here, you've put yourself in a better situation. Let's say one player behind you calls your bet and the other two fold. Now you only need to win 33% of the time to make this situation profitable, and your hand (straight) will be best many more times than that.

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Mistake #3: Failing to bet the River with a good (but not great) hand in a heads-up pot.

You usually see this error when a player in EP has a quality hand, such as an overpair or top pair with top kicker, and a scary card hits on the river. An example:

You have :As :Qd in MP. A player calls in front of you, you raise. The button calls, the blinds fold, and the original raiser calls. The flop comes :Qs :9s :6h. The original caller checks, you bet, the button calls, and the EP player folds. The turn is :6c. You bet again and get called by the BTN. The river is :7s.

You should almost always bet here. Yes, your opponent may have a flush or a straight (or even two pair) on the river. But so what? When you bet here, you have the opportunity to profit every time your opponent has a worse hand. If you check, your opponent will probably check a worse hand than yours and bet a better hand. If you bet, you will win some money when you get called by worse hands, and sometimes you will get raised, which will force you to make a decision. Well, poker is all about decisions and we can't avoid that. Knowing how to make tough decisions is what will make you a profitable player in the long run. But not betting ends up making you lose opportunities to make profits in the long run.
When you get to the river with a hand like this, your opponent will probably be holding a hand that will call – but not bet – much more often than he would make a raise.

Players who are well-read will notice that this hand fits into Mistake #1, discussed in this article. Remember, many of your opponents will want to call. It's in their blood. So give them the chance! Despite the variations and unforeseen events when playing the river, a good rule of thumb is: bet with a hand that your opponent will call with more hands than he would bet, and check if your opponent will bet with more hands than he would call.

Note: We cannot take this type of thinking into account if our opponents are maniacs or constant bluffers. If you are up against an opponent of this type, it will be easier to just check and wait for a bluff.

Article translated and adapted from the original: 3 Mistakes on the River (Guy Downs)